“I know I will be killed,” Gullan Bharo said in a video statement before returning home.

Days later, she was shot dead.

A young mother of two from Sukkur’s riverine Kacha area, Gullan was a woman whose dreams were snatched away before she could truly live them. According to her husband, she deserved to die.

After separating from her reportedly abusive husband, Gullan had been living with her father for nearly three years. She had not formally sought khula, but in many parts of feudal Sindh, a woman leaving her husband is treated as rebellion.

Her husband declared her “kari.”

In the brutal language of so-called honour killings, that word can become a death sentence.

“Kari” does not mean guilty.
It means marked.

When Gullan learned they were coming for her, she ran

Across bushes.

Across the harsh kacha terrain.

Desperate to stay alive.

By the time she reached the police station, terrified and exhausted, she was not asking for justice. She was begging for protection.

The Police did something rare. Instead of sending her back, they took her into custody and arranged court protection.

She wanted to go to Darul Aman, a women’s shelter. She wanted safety.

Then her father arrived at the court. He placed his pag at her feet and begged her to come back ‘for the family’s honour’.

Her mother pleaded too. And Gullan said “yes”.

Not because she felt safe but because daughters are taught that a father’s dignity matters more than their fear.

Before leaving she recorded a video statement in which she said:

“I know I will be killed. I am a mother of wo children, but for the sake of my father’s dignity I will sacrifice myself.”

She knew that she is going to die, everybody knew and still nobody stopped it.

On May 2, her husband and his uncle allegedly entered the house and shot her dead with a Kalashikov. The woman who begged for protection was murdered anyway.

Not in secrecy, Not unexpectedly, Not suddenly but Predictably...

Pakistan calls these crimes “honour killings”. But there is no honour in murder.

Gullan Bharo case is a true example that there is no honour in killing women. The dishonour lies in a system that still buries women in the name of “honour.”

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)